As the event industry grows and matures, it is important that high-quality personnel with the appropriate skills and attributes are employed. This will help to ensure professionalism in the field, equip managers with the necessary skills to deal with challenges and ultimately help to sustain the delivery of high-quality events (Harris and Jago, 1999). As Newell and Shackleton (2000:111) report, people are central to organizations: 'When we talk about "organizations" we are obviously talking about people who make up organizations, since by definition an organization cannot act. Continued success is dependent on attracting and retaining high-quality individuals who can respond effectively to ... dynamic environments.' Conversely, employing individuals who do not meet job requirements can be detrimental to organizations as they may cause disruption to the workplace, increase training costs, and contribute to a loss of productivity and high turnover rates (Mathews and Redman, 2001). It is therefore vital that relevant and effective skills and attributes of employees are identified for particular organizations and industries, and certainly for the emerging event management industry. Discerning the skills and attributes of event managers, however, may be as hotly debated within and between academia and in practice as reported for information managers (Snyman, 2001). Nevertheless, there is growing demand for greater collaboration between academia and event practitioners to increase the uptake of research findings and to produce graduates that are equipped with the skills to handle the challenges of the industry (Neale, 2000).